UPPER. VERTICAL STEADYING FIN 



RIGHT HOR.I2LO/MTAL STEADYING FIN 

 TWO OP THE 8 HOODS 



COVERING GAS OUTLETS 



. UPPER- 

 BALANCED RUDDER 



CIR<!ULAR. RUDDER. 

 iSE.R.VINe AS 

 ADDITlON/i.l 

 HOR.IZ.ONTAL 

 STEADYING FIN 



RIGHT BALANCED 

 ELEVATOR 



Circular. 



RUDDER 

 SERVING As 

 ADDITIONAL 

 VEf^TlCAL 

 STEADYING FIN 



LOWER. 



BALANCED. 



RUDDER. 



LOWER VERTICAL 

 STEADYING FIN 



Details of Zeppelin L-49: Length 650 feet, 

 beam 78 feet, displacement 58 tons, possesses 18 

 gas bags up to 157,500 cubic feet displacement 

 each, has five motors of 240 H.P. each, speed 57 

 knots, ascensional limit 4.5 miles, armament 18 

 120-lb. bombs, machine guns and equipment 



STERN . 

 PROPELLER 



ENGINE ROOM 

 VENTILATORS 



REAR HAND RAIL 



REAR'ENGIrNE 

 ROOM FOR ^ 

 TWO MOTORS 



REAR 

 SIDE 

 PRO- 

 PELLERS 

 \ PORTHOLES 



^REAR 

 LANDING 

 BUFFER^ 



('AIRT 



^!N PLATED 



e>ag) 



sides and at the rear car only by the 

 mountings and shafts of two propellers — 

 a strictly necessary evil because two of the 

 propellers must run when the cars rest on 

 the ground and because the others behind 

 the cars cannot revolve. 



In the old Zeppelins there was a tri- 

 angular keel under the hull. The L-49 

 has that keel too; but it has been in- 

 verted like a glove so that now it protrudes 

 into the interior with the apex of the 

 triangle uppermost. It stiffens the en- 

 velope — its function from the very be- 

 ginning; but two-thirds of its air friction 

 is eliminated by this ingenious tucking 

 away of its larger sides. Why were not 

 the cars and engines moved into the 

 envelope as 

 well? There 

 was no neces- 

 sity for that. 

 Modern sci- 

 ence teaches 

 that a stream- 

 lined bulk af- 

 fords no more 

 wind resist- 

 ance than 

 slender ir- 

 regular ap- 

 pendages. 

 The cars were 

 given the 



Wreckage of a Zeppelin. A labyrinth of aluminum 

 frames, engines, and elaborate control mechanism 



shapes of torpedoes. Hence they offered 

 no serious impediment to speed and dis- 

 pensed with the weight of special appa- 

 ratus for insulation and ventilation that 

 would be needed for engine rooms inside 

 the gas-inflated hull. 



Small as the cars are, the space allotted 

 for the crew is not "as restricted as in a 

 submarine," as the French put it. There 

 is an abundance of room in a wide passage- 

 way within the immense hull. But there 

 is not as much comfort as may be sup- 

 posed. These ample cabins serve merely 

 as a shelter from the icy gale that beats 

 against the outside of the ship. They are 

 about as comfortable as the clouds of 

 heaven are for the angels pictured in 



children's 

 books. Being 

 pitched about 

 at sea is noth- 

 ing compared 

 with a refrac- 

 tory Zeppelin 

 airship. 



A Zeppelin 

 is at once the 

 flimsiest and 

 the staunch- 

 est of artificial 

 structures. 

 When the old 

 Zeppelin was 



.'{70 



